Flywheel announces New Venture Challenge 2016

"Flywheel announced today the launch of the New Ventures Challenge
2016, a business idea competition that will award up to eight startup business
teams the opportunity for an average of $50,000 in seed funding.

The selected teams will enter the New Ventures Accelerator at
Flywheel to develop their ideas into investable business models. The
accelerator will run from June through August, followed by a two month
residency at Flywheel.

“The innovation economy is built on a thousand ideas for
company start-ups”, according to Eric Tomlinson, Chief Innovation Officer of
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and President of Wake
Forest Innovation Quarter.

“The New Ventures Challenge is a further important step by
Flywheel to develop fledgling companies using its entrepreneur training skills
and applying seed-stage investments by local investors,” he continues. “Such
approaches have great synergy with the broad based sets of research, technology
and educational programs growing and thriving in the Innovation Quarter.”

The business challenge statement is broad and will consider any
ideas in the categories of Business or Consumer Software Development and
Applications, IT and Informatics, High Technology, and Device Innovation.

Of particular interest are software and hardware ideas that
intersect with the Triad’s regional vertical domains like healthcare, biotech,
aerospace, logistics, arts, and many others. More information is available at
newventuresnc.com.

“This is an exciting time for Flywheel and the local
community”, according to Peter Marsh, a cofounder of Flywheel.“The sponsor of this challenge is New
Ventures 2016 LLC, a group of local investors who are applying investment
capital to seed the creation of technology and device startups.”

“We are especially
grateful to the Wake Forest Community Law and Business Clinic for their ongoing
advice in how to structure the investment club and the challenge,” says Peter.

“Most of the new jobs created in the US economy come from
startups, and it takes the commitment of local successful entrepreneurs
investing in startups to make it happen,” adds Brad Bennett, a partner in
Flywheel and principal at Wildfire.

Flywheel will provide workspace for selected challenge teams
during the finalists briefing and final pitch weekend, and organize resources
and mentors to help each team develop their concepts and commercialization
plans.

The challenge is being administered by the Flywheel Foundation,
a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote a startup ecosystem and
tech sill development in the Triad, with a specific focus on gender, racial and
economic diversity.